Archive for June, 2009

UPDATE: I’ve decided to postpone the initial registration deadline to this Friday – July 3rd, 2009 – to allow you to use your 2009-2010 professional development budget if you’re interested in this series.

To register, visit www.higheredexperts.com/stopthepresses

Just a quick reminder about the next 3-webinar series (an updated version of the series that was given last year) I put together for Higher Ed Experts:

Stop the Presses: How to go digital with your magazine or newsletter.
July 7, 8 & 9, 2009 – Registration closes on June 29 (next Monday)
www.higheredexperts.com/stopthepresses

This series should interest you if you’re in charge of news-oriented print publications (alum magazine,
internal newsletter, parents newsletter, etc.) at your institution.

Here’s a detailed description:

“Stop the Presses” is a 3-webinar series that will show you why more and more higher ed institutions have gone digital with their news-oriented publications. It will also help you get ready for an eventual switch from print to electronic or to better integrate both media at your institution by sharing winning strategies, lessons learned and practical advice from editors of higher ed digital magazines.

July 7 2009, 1PM-2PM ET – Rain date: July 14, 2009 1PM-2PM ET
Going Paperless: How to prepare and survive the transition from print to digital
John Lofy, Editor of Michigan Today, will explain why and how his 40-year old alum magazine took the paperless route by switching to a web magazine combined with an email newsletter. He will share lessons
learned, practical tips and advice to prepare and survive this major change.

July 8 2009, 1PM-2PM ET – Rain date: July 15, 2009 1PM-2PM ET
Paper and Pixels 101
Bonny Griffith, Editor of Fuse at Ithaca College, will tell you why and how her 2-year old hybrid print and digital magazine helped her institution reach prospective students. She will also share some winning strategies to integrate and optimize efforts using both media.

July 9 2009, 1PM-2PM ET – Rain date: July 16, 2009 1PM-2PM ET
The Editor’s Guide to the Digital Galaxy: How to edit a paperless and multimedia magazine
Karl L. Bates, Manager of Research Communications and Editor of Duke Research will explain what it means to go from print to digital for writers and editors. He will share practical tips, winning strategies and useful pointers to write and edit a multimedia, digital and paperless magazine.

Webinars: Higher Ed Experts

Institutions that have already registered include:

Missouri State University
ISU
Messiah College
Penn State University
University of Notre Dame
Eastern Kentucky University
Erikson Institute
Emory University
Lynn University
University of Colorado at Boulder – Leeds School
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
Hendrix College

Registration is open until June 29 July 3rd at www.higheredexperts.com/stopthepresses

Please email me at karine@higheredexperts.com if you have any questions.

What I really like with Twitter is that it’s a great medium to get answers to most questions.

Earlier this week, I asked a quick question to the people who follow me on Twitter – and the general Twitterverse:

Twitter / karinejoly: Quick question: Why and what do you retweet?

I got a few answers to my question, but nothing that could help me get a better understanding of the practice of retweeting.

@mgraca: @karinejoly Any message I want to spread from the Wheaton College account, as well as interesting items from people I follow. #pleaseRT

@davidlmulder: @karinejoly I retweet anything that is particularly useful or interesting that I think people would enjoy #pleaseRT

@sliebler: I RT anything I find insightful, usually interesting blog posts since interesting blog posts are so difficult to find on my own. #pleaseRT

And, then tonight, as I’m doing my usual session of blog reading, I find this gem courtesy of danah boyd: the draft of a descriptive paper about retweeting as a conversational practice written by her, Scott Golder and Gilad Lotan.

The paper – currently under review – is titled “Tweet, Tweet, Retweet: Conversational Aspects of Retweeting on Twitter” and is available as an 11-page PDF file.

I’ve just finished reading it and thought I’d share some of interesting points found in the analysis of the data sets used for this research – to get you to read it:

About tweets – from a sample of 720,000 retrieved from Jan 26 to June 13, 2009
22% of tweets include a URL (‘http:’)
36% of tweets mention a user in the form ‘@user’;
86% of tweets with @user begin with @user and are presumably a directed @reply
5% of tweets contain a hashtag (#) with 41% of these also containing a URL

About retweets – from a sample of 107,116 retrieved from April 20 to June 13, 2009
52% of retweets contain a URL
18% of retweets contain a hashtag
11% of retweets contain an encapsulated retweet (RT @user1 RT @user2 …message..)
9% of retweets contain an @reply that refers to the person retweeting the post

There’s definitely more to this draft paper, so go read it now!

But, before, why not tell us why and what you retweet by posting a comment?

In higher education, we don’t like to talk about money, especially about how much students have to pay to get an education.

Until recently some institutions didn’t even want to display a clear price tag on their offerings (to avoid sticker shock?), and made prospective students and their parents chase the information about costs on their website after a real treasure web hunt.

Things are changing though – because of the economic situation, but not only – as more and more university websites now feature cost and financial aid calculators demanded by students and their parents.

While most non-profit institutions don’t like money talks (unless it’s to get or report big donors’ gifts ;-), it’s a talk more and more of their target audiences want to have.

Well, Dartmouth College has chosen to have this talk in 2 minutes and 21 seconds with a video about its “wacky” business model (via Karlyn who works there).

And, let me tell you this is brilliant and very well done, so drop everything else and just watch this video to find out how to justify the cost of an Ivy League education in those tough financial times.

Like it? Hate it? Tell us what you think by posting a comment!

My fourth UB column for 2009 is now available in the June issue as well as online: “2010: Print to Web Odyssey? A five-step plan for assessing and negotiating the transition from print to web publications”

BTW, If you want to learn from editors who went digital or totally paperless with their magazine or newsletter, you should definitely attend “Stop the Presses,” a 3-webinar series about the topic scheduled on July 7, 8 and 9. Places are limited, so make sure you don’t wait too much before registering at www.higheredexperts.com/stopthepresses

Here are the 5 steps described in the article:

• DON’T PANIC: Get the facts straight about existing publications.
• DO YOUR HOMEWORK: Ask readers and target audiences about their preferences.
• LEARN MORE: Determine possible cost-saving options for mission-critical print publications.
• EXPLORE: Figure out different electronic options for other print publications.
• MAKE A DECISION: Share it with stakeholders, target audiences, and readers.

2010: Print to Web Odyssey?

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